Romans.

My family and I are currently reading the book of Romans together. Obviously we are not all living in the same house, but via the internet we are able to keep each other updated on our reading. So Romans was my book choice. I chose it because it is my personal favorite book in the Bible. It’s just 16 short chapters and I’ve read it many times. The amazing thing about reading scripture is, you can read the same book over and over again and God will reveal new things to you every time. It’s so much fun!

We have been shooting emails back and forth about what we’re reading and the wisdom God has given us. It’s about been a week since we began Romans and I’m only in chapter 8. I prayed for God to overwhelm me with wisdom as I study His word and boy is He pouring it out! I can’t write fast enough to keep up with Him. It took me one sitting just to get half way through chapter one. Two things: 1) Pray big prayers that you know only God can make happen and 2) If you pray for it, be ready to receive it.

I like what my mommy said about the first half of Romans. So very wisely she summed it up as this: “We are all sinners and we should try to live as Jesus did and that is not easy but we need to work at it every day so that we can fulfill our purpose that He has for all of us. Romans 3:23-24 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." He paid the price for our sinful ways so that we could focus on what was important....to live a godly life and to live our lives to His purpose.”

I also really like what my older brother Zickle said about God’s love. He said this: “Romans 4 verse 25 was the one that stuck out to me the most. It says, "He (Jesus) was delivered to death for our sins and was raised for our justification.” It just blew me away because it shows the love that God has for us. God delivered, He gave, He said here you go death take my son so that all my children that I love so very much will not have to suffer for their sins. Then what really blew me away about the lengths God takes so that He can have relationships with us is, He did the impossible, He rose Jesus from the grave for our justification. I wish I could love as He loves! Also in chapter 4 it says a variation of, "righteousness comes by faith," six times. You can be righteous in the eyes of the creator of the Earth by having faith. God loves us so and wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us and He does every possible and impossible to make that happen.”

For me, I could rewrite my whole notebook, but trust me…that would be way too long for a blog post. I’ll just keep it short and sweet. Adam sinned, all of humanity is condemned to death. Jesus died, all of humanity can live and be made righteous. That’s chapter 5. But do you know what else? Chapter 6 is really good as well because it’s convicting but also explains our freedom in Christ. My sinful self died over 2 thousand years ago with Jesus on the cross. I’m no longer a slave to my sin. Though I deserve death, Jesus already conquered my death. It doesn’t need to be conquered again. It’s like the ACC Tournament right? Florida State(Me covered in Jesus’ blood) conquered Miami(my sin) on Friday. No matter how much Miami still wants to beat Florida State in this years tournament, it’s not going to happen. It’s single elimination and this battle has already been finished!

We’re free, is what I’m trying to say. We’re slaves to righteousness now. And that’s something to boast about in Jesus because our righteousness isn’t anything we did to earn. It’s everything Jesus did in obedience to God.

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of what I did this weekend…(Bondi Beach)

P.S. I used Miami and Florida State, because I figured no one would be too offended by that game.